Or in my case the candy aisle.

Easter is just around the corner and the store shelves are crowded with a variety of foil-wrapped candy in soft pastels, pastel colored M&Ms, pastels peeps, jelly beans, and chocolate bunnies in way too many choices, as well as pre-made baskets and supplies for those into do-it-yourself. 

It was a tradition in our family do the Easter egg (and basket) hunt. I can remember finding candy that eluded detection that first round, usually when cleaning. Love surprises like that!                          

But then I love chocolate.

The temptation to go into the store and out without a bag of something is just too much for me to resist. Its made harder by the face that I have a special candy that only is made at this season.

Cadbury mini eggs. OMG they are some kind of wonderful. Oh, and the caramel crème eggs. Mmm. Of course I always like to have a bowl of M&Ms in all their varieties.

But all this marketing hype provides us with another way to consume far too many calories.    I find it odd (disturbing?) that another religious holiday is wrapped around oodles of candy. And yes, I do know the pagan reasoning behind it. Is the Easter candy mainly a US thing? Do other counties do the same or similar with the Easter egg hunts?

And why don’t we celebrate with candy at all other holidays. Say, like July 4th. I mean, come on. Where’s the red, white and blue M&Ms? The US flag foils wrapped around mini candy bars?

Oh, I know. How about Cadbury mini stars with red, white and blue candy coating? Hmm, I can just see it now — chocolate Uncle Sam’s.

OK, maybe not.

What’s your favorite Easter candy? Do you have traditions that you hold at this time?

Sid drew a winner for an advanced copy of the The Konstantos Marriage Demand by Kate Walker, and that winner is Serenissima! Congratulations! Please send your mailing address to kate AT kate-walker.com.

Thanks to everyone who commented, and special thanks again to Kate for blogging with us!

Thank you to everyone here at Jaunty Quills for inviting me along to guest blog here today. And special thanks to Janette who organised this and has helped me get my post up on the blog in time for today. It’s great to be here. ~ Kate

 Long ago –  far too long ago!  - I was a Girl Scout – or  Girl Guide  as we call them here in the UK. And when I was a ‘Guide’  I remember that February 22^nd had a very special meaning. It was what was known as ‘Thinking Day’.  ‘Thinking Day’ was a special date on which all Guides were  supposed to think about  Scouts and Guides all over the world.  I used to wear my uniform to school and wonder if other girls in other countries and cultures were doing the same. It was a lovely feeling,  linking in with all those others even though I would never see them or meet them.

Flash forward all these years later and here it is February 22^nd again. And this time I’m linking up with people all over the world but in a very different way. Now I’m connecting with people in so many different countries, people of so many different ages,  so many different languages, so many different cultures – but this time I’m doing it through my books.

Every few weeks, the postman arrives at my house with bundles of books in so many different languages. These are the international translations of my books that are now sold all over the world.  I think the last time I checked there were over twenty  different ones on my shelves – French, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Polish  - even Japanese. (Especially Japanese. My books are really popular in  Japan it seems.)   And every time a new bundle arrives, I open the package and look at the foreign editions in amazement and delight. It’s an astonishing, wonderful thing to think that  the stories I write here in a small English town in Lincolnshire UK, reach out to all these other women in all these far-flung places.

But that’s the wonder of romance. These love stories are universal. They speak to readers of all ages, colours, cultures. They cross borders, break down barriers, unite women in their enjoyment of the story they tell.  And it’s specially wonderful to  me because  when I was growing up – and going to school wearing that rather unflattering uniform – I had a very special dream that one day I wanted to be a writer.   One day I hoped that I would see my name on a book that I had written and that was on sale in a published form. But back then so many people – teachers, parents,  sensible adults, told  me that my dream was just that – a fantasy that would never come true. I would do better to forget about it and concentrate on doing something ‘sensible’ with my life instead of wasting my energies longing for something that was never going to happen.

Hmmm . .  .How wrong can you be? Not only did I stick to my dreams, keep on trying to write, get a book published . . . and another . . . an another  . . .but this year is a very special one for me as I’m celebrating  something very important in my writing life. I’m celebrating my ‘silver anniversary’ as a published author. It’s 25 years since my very first book The Chalk Line was published in 1984 and after that I’ve  published over 55 more novels in the Harlequin Presents line, together with two ‘How To Write’ guides including the award winning 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. And I have all these wonderful international editions on my bookshelves to prove it.

But best of all,  I have so many fabulous readers all over the world who buy my books, read them and, very often, write to tell me how much they love them. My novels go to countries I’ve never visited, into the hands of people I’ll never meet, in a way that I never ever dreamed of when  I was imagining that one day I might write a book.  And as well as celebrating  having lasted 25 years in this business, I’m also celebrating all those wonderful readers without whom I could never have done it. Because if they hadn’t bought my books then I wouldn’t still be here, still writing  - and chatting with you all on this blog.

But the other thing I’m really celebrating is never giving up on your dreams, whatever they are. I know that the people who gave my advice all those years ago thought they were doing it for the best, but I’m so so glad that I didn’t take that advice and abandon my hopes of becoming a writer. Because my 25 years as a published author has brought me so much more than I could ever have imagined back in those days when I was just ‘thinking’ about all those other Guides all around the world. It’s brought me friendship with other wonderful writers and the knowledge that with my books I’ve touched the lives of so many others and brought enjoyment and pleasure into them just for a little while.  And that’s really worth celebrating.

So I was wondering  - are you celebrating anything special this year? An anniversary, a ‘milestone’ birthday ( I have one of those coming up too – but I’m not going to admit to exactly which one!). Or are you perhaps celebrating success in exams, a new job, a new baby, a new home?  Or just the simple things in life  like having family round you – and maybe your pets?  I’d love to know.

My latest novel The Konstantos Marriage Demand will be out next month – it’s published in Presents EXTRA on March 16^th. And I’m thrilled to say that I’ve just discovered that this book has been given 4.5 stars by Romantic Times and has been chosen as one of their Top Picks for March 2010.  I have an advance copy to give away  to someone who leaves a  comment on this post.

(For those of you who don’t know – I don’t pick the winners of my prizes, my cat Sid  does. I put all the names of the entries on pieces of paper and then I put a cat treat on top of each one. The first one that Sid eats is the winner.  And the more entries there are, the more treats Sid gets to eat. So come on, make my cat very happy – post a comment!)

Michelle has picked two winners from Friday’s commenters.  Emmanuele wins the free download of An Accidental Seduction, and eap is the winner of a signed copy of  The Accidental Countess.  Congratulations to both!  Please send your mailing addresses to michelle @ michellewillingham.com (without the spaces of course.)

Thanks Michelle for guest blogging with us.

All my life, I’ve loved cooking. My mother taught me to bake when I was a little girl, and I grew up experimenting with recipes– sometimes with success, and other times with disastrous results. Part of my joy in cooking was because I felt like I was serving up a dish of love to my family and friends. Seeing their enjoyment of luscious chocolate, hearty fruit pies, and sweet frosting, gave me a sense of accomplishment. (We won’t talk about the burned cookies or the banana bread experiment when I forgot the baking soda).

I’d always wanted to write a romance novel where the heroine adored cooking, because love and food, for me, are intertwined. It was more challenging in the era I selected, because ladies of the nobility in the Victorian era did not cook for the household. They hired servants to prepare and serve the food. The only way my heroine could do her own cooking was to make her completely destitute. And thus, the Cinderella figure of Emily Barrow was born.

I used two resources to inspire Emily’s recipes. One, the Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Mrs. D.A. Lincoln, gave me insights as to the types of recipes that might have been present in Victorian London. Though the cook book was a reprint of the 1884 edition, I chose recipes that could have been used 30 years earlier. The second resource was Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management (http://www.mrsbeeton.com/), originally published in 1861. Both provided fun details about the household and cooking tips such as “a cook’s first duty should be to set her dough for the breakfast rolls, provided this has not been done on the previous night.” The cook must then “after having lighted her kitchen fire, carefully brushed the range, and cleaned the hearth, proceed to prepare for breakfast. She will thoroughly rinse the kettle, and, filling it with fresh water, will put it on the fire to boil. She will then go to the breakfast-room, or parlour, and there make all things ready for the breakfast of the family.”

I’ll confess that, although I love baking, more often than not my weekends begin with a toddler prying my eyelids open at 6:30 in the morning, demanding, “Mommy, food? Mommy, Cheerios?” The child is lucky if I pop open a can of store-bought cinnamon rolls. Getting up to knead homemade bread dough? Not happening. I tend to do more of my own cooking later in the afternoon or when I get a craving for something sweet. But if I had a scullery maid who wanted to get up at the crack of dawn and make the family breakfast? I would be all over that.

My Victorian series begins when Emily Barrow elopes with the Earl of Whitmore after he rescues her from intense poverty in the novella “An Accidental Seduction.” Their story continues in my February book The Accidental Countess where Emily learns that being a Countess isn’t as easy as it looks. To make matters worse, her husband was the victim of a violent accident and doesn’t remember anything about their marriage. Frustrated and worried about her future, Emily finds sanctuary in her cooking, which scandalizes the family butler.

But despite being an unsuitable Countess, Emily fights to win back the love of her husband. And along the way, I found some perfect recipes to go along with the story. They’re included at the beginning of several chapters, and my favorite recipe is one for Molasses Cookies. The recipe can be found on my website at http://www.michellewillingham.com/books/the-accidental-countess/recipes/molasses-cookies . Originally, I modified the recipe because I thought it had few enough ingredients that my heroine might be able to make them for the Earl. But in the end, it became one of my favorite family recipes! I now make it every year at Christmas, because the basic recipe has enough ginger that it strongly resembles a delicious gingerbread cookie.

Today I’d like to celebrate historic recipes by giving away a signed copy of The Accidental Countess and a free download of “An Accidental Seduction” to two lucky winners. Just tell me the name of one of your favorite family recipes. Is there a recipe that’s been passed down over the generations in your family? Tell us about it!

Michelle Willingham is the author of eight novels for Harlequin Historical and three novellas with Harlequin Historical Undone. When she’s not reading, avoiding exercise, or chasing after her three children, she enjoys baking any and all products made with sugar. Look for her next book in the Accidental Series, The Accidental Princess, coming in March 2010. For more information about her books, visit her website at: www.michellewillingham.com .

It used to be that fast food consisted of hamburgers or some other fried or grilled meat/fish, fries or rings, and a choice of soft drinks or shakes. The only other option was pizza, which may or not be a fast food.

I’m not the person to ask, since I enjoy pizza any time of the day.  Yes, that includes cold at breakfast. 

Now we have a whole lot of options from seafood to pastas. Some claim they aren’t really fast food. Hmm, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck.

The general ambiance of hard plastic chairs, plastic trays, drinks served in paper cups and your food wrapped in paper/in a plastic basket/on a paper or plastic plate sorta lumps them all together in my opinion.

Some are reputed to be healthy. And maybe they are.

Subway sorta grabbed the honor first when overweight Jared lost a lot of weight eating their sandwiches. My hat’s off to him for the weight loss, and for not hurling because he ate the same thing everyday for months. Or was it a year?

Either way I’m impressed because I get bored with one-day old leftovers.  Unless it’s pizza.   

In our office, the gourmet sandwich places get a lot of our employees’ business. For me, the portions are way oversized and still way too salty. They are emergency food to me – places I hit when it’s the quickest option.

What’s your take on fast food? Do you shun them? Have a favorite place or food that you find yourself craving?

I did something stupid this week that I haven’t done in years and I hope it’s not a precursor of how 2010 is heading.  I locked myself out of the house. 

The last time I pulled this trick was about five summers ago.  I ended up destroying a window screen and crawling through a window that time.   This event was a whole other thing.  See, it’s winter and we’re having our coldest and snowiest one on record.  The weathermen have urged caution on the roads, and suggested that if you park your car outside, that you start it once a day in this weather and let it warm up. 

Ok, this makes sense, and since I have to head out early to work tomorrow for the day job, it made double sense to clear the snow off the car today.  Since I would have to interrupt my writing time for this, I’d make a side trip to the  post office to mail something that should go out tomorrow morning. 

I decide I don’t need to take my purse.  Just my wallet and cell phone will do.  So I go out, start the suv and begin sweeping off the snow.  It’s cold, and though I’ve been out less than five minutes my toes are numb.  And yes, I am wearing heavy socks and insulated snow boots.  I’m a winter wuss.

I hurry back to the house, grab my wallet and phone, lock the door and hurry to my now warm car.  Except it’s locked.  I didn’t intentionally lock it, but that is moot.  I can’t get in the locked suv and I can’t get into the house because the house keys are on the same keyring with the car ones and they are danging from the ignition.   I can see them, but I can’t get to them.

I allowed myself a minute of panic.  At least I had my phone and I could call somebody to unlock my car, but that would take time.  I was already freezing.   Did I mention I live in a rural area? 

Years ago I’d vowed this wouldn’t happen again because I would hide a key outside so I could get in without breaking a window.  But had I done it?  I honestly couldn’t remember if I had, or exactly where I’d decided would be the best place to hide a key.  But I knew if I had, it would be in the back yard. 

Fenced back yard with locks on the gates that also are strung with rabbit wire.  Yeah, I had to climb a fence that didn’t offer any toeholds, wearing boots and a coat.  My fingers are officially frozen and I’m hoping I don’t lose my wallet or phone. 

I’m past freezing.  I’m miserable and I have to dig in nearly two feet of snow to find the key.  After several unsuccessful tries I find it.  Of course it wasn’t the key for the utility door, so I had to climb the fence again.

I got into the house to get the spare keys, and I did make it to the post office and back home and inside.  I may hide a key again, just in case.  But I’m not going to lock the house again without spare keys in my pocket.

So what about you?  Have you ever locked yourself out of the house or car?  Do you have contingency plans, just in case?

(raising hand here in a hopefully  crowded room of shoe afficianados) 

I am Jan Kenny and I have a shoe (or is that footwear?) addiction.

It’s the truth.  I’ve had this obsession all my life.  I simply love shoes, love shopping for shoes and boots, love the smell of leather when I walk into a shoe store.  Love the feel of smooth quality leather shaping to my tootsies in a caress that tells me they were made for me. 

I love buying shoes.  Period.

When I hit thirty and I had boxes of shoes everywhere, I admitted I had a serious addiction.  I had shoes that I just bought because I could.  Shoes I rarely wore.  Shoes that I never wore!

I had a serious problem with impulse shoe shopping.  So I made a New Year’s resolution to curb it.  And like many resolutions, it was forgotten the moment I walked into a store and saw THE shoes that just called out to me.   Year after year.

I realized the error of my ways.  I stopped making resolutions. 

Yep, I am a lost cause for footwear.  Good shoes, sexy shoes, sturdy boots, take-me-boots, slouch-around-the-house sandals and killer stilletoes.

Oh, mercy.  I love ‘em all.  Enclosed toe/heel or barely there.  Boots to the ankle or above the knee.  Lined with fleece or silk.  Bring them on.

Seriously I’m a sucker for peek-a-boo pumps or especially harder to find slings or heels.  As far as heels go, I can manage three inches.  Used to handle more, but well, age and all…

If they are on sale, I’d buy them.  I don’t need them.  Don’t have a reason to buy them. 

But if they catch my eye and they have my size, they are mine.  And that size thing is probably my saving grace.  Maybe another reason why I’m always hunting for shoes/boots? 

Well, I have to have a GOOD excuse.

Oh, do I have one!  My great great (maybe another great?) grandfather from Ireland was a cobbler, who came to America to ply his trade in Haverhill, MA, one of the shoe manufacturing capitals way back in the late 1800s. 

That love of shoes is in the blood.  Right? 

Well, maybe a stretch.  At any rate I do love good fitting, good looking footwear.  I’ve given up curbing my addiction and decided to continue on just because I wanna. 

Sorry, but I’m having trouble loading the shoe pix that I wanted.  So go browse Zappos.com.    Yep, spreading the joy…

How about you?  Do you have an addiction to a special something?  Is it near impossible for you to walk away from what you love when it’s on sale? 

I’m giving away an autographed copy of A Cowboy Christmas to one commenter on this post.   Winner will be announced Dec 20.

My mom and grandmother did huge amounts of baking and candy making during the holidays.  One of my fondest memories is coming home from school and stepping into a warm kitchen that held the scents of vanilla, chocolate, mint, and cinnamon.

Well, what I really loved was seeing all those cookies cooling on racks.  Very few were the frosted and decorated type, though she made delicious butter cookies shaped like candy canes.  All of her cookies were so scrumptuous. 

Mom would start baking cookies right after Thanksgiving.  She’d store many of them in the freezer to be doled out as gifts, but there was always plenty on hand for the family too.   Oh, and she made brownies from scratch.  Thick, rich and chocolaty.  They never lasted long!  Same with her fudge which was the creamy type that she cooked on the stove. 

Grandmother prided herself on the divinity she made each year, swearing that she had to wait until the weather was just right to make it.  They were just perfectly beautiful little clouds, sometimes tinted in pastels.  In all honesty I was never a fan of it though.

I did like her peanut brittle.  That’s one thing I’ve never tried making, because I also remember her saying how much trouble it was.  Uh, thank you, I have enough trouble without looking for more!                  

She was always experimenting with different types of fudge.  Some were fabulous.  Some were interesting in a who’d have thought way.  Some not so much.  It was the same with the little fruit and vegetable cakes she’d make: pumpkin, zucchini, pear, and some that were unidentifiable other than a strong taste of allspice.   

Those are some of the memories I associate with the holidays.  I don’t do much dessert and candy making at all, but when I do I’m thrust right back to those simpler happy times.

That’s what is was like for the heroine in my latest book, A Cowboy Christmas.  Ellie is a stranger to the kitchen, but she had fond memories of her mother’s baking.  She’s also a total believer of all things Christmas and tries to recreate those traditions that she holds dear just once.

 Do you keep any holiday baking traditions that have special meaning for you, or bring back fond memories?  Are there certain candies, cakes or cookies that you buy for the holidays that have become a family tradition?

On Black Friday that could be the first five minutes if you’re trampled by the stampede of rabid shoppers.

The day after Thanksgiving is when stores offer ridiculously deep discounts on big-ticket items in hopes that shoppers will come in droves and save them from facing financial disaster.  I am convinced that the shrewd BF shopper knows in advance what aisle their coveted prize is stored.

I’ve ventured out on one of these predawn shopping nightmares once.  It was enough for me.  People weren’t smiling and singing carols.  There was no excuse me if carts bumped.

They had blood in their eyes.  They crashed their cart into mine to get me out of their way.  They raced down the aisle like contestants in an iron man triathlon and literally grabbed  that coveted item off the shelf.

It doesn’t sweeten short tempers when the stores have maybe fifty of an item and there are two hundred shoppers.  Somebody is going to get seriously peeved, and some feel the urge to vent.  Or just grab the item out of my cart and run for the cash register. 

Just like they came, they leave.  After all, the store down the street has more items that go on sale an hour later.  They pour into cars and tear out of the lot like NASCAR drivers off pit road.

No sale is worth putting myself through the torture of Black Friday shopping.   If I feel the urge to shop that day, it’ll be online. 

What about you?  Are you a Black Friday veteran?  Do you have strategies for getting just what you want most?